Beginner Bass Guitar Lessons – The Basics

When starting out learning as a beginner bass guitarist, you probably have no idea where to start at, what to do, or how to begin. Learning online is a great way to get started and the basics are the first things taught. We will go over a few of them here so you have an idea what to look for in a good online beginner bass course.

When any good bass teacher starts with a new student, they always begin with the very basic beginner bass stuff. A vital beginner bass technique is right hand position. Let’s start with your arm. The right forearm should be kind of suspended above the body of the bass. This prevents pressure from being exerted on the forearm which causes your fingers to hurt or become tired quickly.

This can also cause other more serious trouble like carpal tunnel or bruising if done incorrectly over a long period – This is one of the reasons that learning online is a good idea!

Being taught by bass pro will make sure you are doing things correctly.

The fingers of your right hand are used to strike or play the strings. Your thumb should rest on the center pickup (the center pickup is usually off set a bit and sticks out). Be sure you rest the thumb on the plastic of the actual pickup and not the clip. Use the index and middle fingers to play the strings. Proper technique is to keep a bit of tension in the two upper finger joints and “pluck” the string. It is not good form to “smack” the strings as this requires a lot of motion. Keep big finger or hand movements to a minimum.

The fingers of the left hand are used to “finger” the frets and change notes. The left hand will wrap around the neck of the bass and the fingers will be poised above the strings, ready to press down at the fret desired. Be sure to bridge the fingers and use the tip to play the fret.

Next, you need to learn how to tune the bass properly. While there are several methods available, the easiest for the bass beginner is the fret method. Always tune your lowest string to an “E” using an electric tuner, or by ear if you feel comfortable doing so. Then play the fifth fret of the “E” string and adjust the “A” string to match it. Do the same with the other strings and you are on your way to beautiful music.

Now you have the basic stuff down and are ready to start learning notes. Learning these basics first makes the rest come easy. By learning online with a beginner bass course, you can read how to do it, see how to do it and hear how it sounds when it is all put together.

As a bass beginner, I suggest that you learn all this online and make sure you understand it. Everything else when you learn bass guitar will be based on this information and your playing will be better immediately. So find an online bass beginner course and go from online to on stage!